Laryngoscopes are routinely used to facilitate endotracheal intubation of patients, to provide an air passage for administration of anesthesia, and/or to establish an airway. In addition, laryngoscopes are commonly used in surgery to displace pharyngeal tissues to permit direct inspection of the larynx (i.e. direct laryngoscopy). Many laryngoscopes are L-shaped having a handle connected to a curved or straight blade. Otolaryngologists typically use a tube-shaped laryngoscope to view the larynx and operate endoscopically on the true vocal cords (i.e. glottis). U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,384,570 and 5,092,314, which are incorporated by reference herein, discuss common laryngoscopes.
Laryngoscopes are often used with gallows-type holders that suspend a tubular retractor that accomodates traditional or robotic surgical instruments. The gallows holder and retractor support the patient's head and provides a clear path for traditional or robotic instruments to reach the larynx.
Alternatively, laryngoscopes are used, albeit less effectively, with jaw spreaders where mouth and larynx tissue are moved by various retractors interconnected to a peripheral structure positioned about the patient's head. One of the retractors interconnected to the peripheral structure is a non-cylindrical blade designed to hold the tongue in an ideal location. One drawback of using jaw spreaders, for example, those manufactured by Olympus® under the trade name FK-WO TORS, is that the retractors used are ineffective for endolaryngial surgery.
Thus, there is a long-felt need to provide a retractor for endolarynginal surgeries that effectively moves and maintains pharyngeal, epiglottal, and endolaryngeal tissue so the traditional or robotic surgical instruments (linear or flexible) can be used.